Part 3

I was a little callous in my treatment of her back then, I do admit. I could have tried to help her, but instead I found myself just watching her struggle. I felt that she would learn some sort of silly lesson from it all, and when I remember myself just sitting there, like a drowned rat, watching as she despaired over the shelter…

It's not very comfortable to recall.

But I saw something afterwards that changed the way I saw Shield Knight.

She remained perfectly still for a while, and as I continued to look, nothing changed. The rain didn't change either. I started to resign myself to the fact that she was actually going to be stubborn enough to hold up her shield all night in a futile attempt for shelter. Of course, her large shield was big enough to shelter her (and possible one other with some tactical fitting). It annoyed me to see such stubbornness and I decided to close my eyes and hope that perhaps exhaustion would bring me to sleep.

I heard a sniff, to which I ignored. More sniffing, still ignored. And then a sob.

I opened my eyes and Shield Knight's face was reddening, her gaze set towards the broken campfire. She quivered and her head doubled up slightly every time she let out a large sniff. I continued to watch as she wiped her nose and her eyes, but she lost her composure very quickly. She brought her spare hand to her eyes and her mouth twisted into a painful frown. She started to cry.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing! What happened? Why was Shield Knight so upset? Was it the rain? No, I thought to myself; if the rain was making her cry then there was no way the Order of the Shield would let her become a knight! We weren't allowed to show our weaknesses so openly! How could she cry in front of me like this? It wasn't befitting of a knight to cry, I thought. This girl has a lot to learn.

Then it hit me. I quickly realised that she didn't know I was awake. I had been deathly still the entire time, the most logical conclusion was that she believed me to be asleep.

It changed what I saw entirely. Before, I was witnessing a moment of weakness, something that would eventually have to be kept secret between us and put another awkward wedge in our companionship. But viewing it from a different angle, with Shield Knight believing herself to be alone, and I no longer saw weakness. This wasn't because of the rain. The entire month we had been together, undertaking missions for our Orders and adventuring, she was always troubled by something, or angry. The fact that she was one of the only women in her entire Order, and an anomaly in the eyes of her male counterparts. That I always subtly belittled her by referring to her as my 'protégé', despite her promising skills in combat. All this time, she had been dealing with so much, including the general stress and displacement that comes with adventuring. You'll be surprised to know that it isn't always a joy to serve the Orders we were aligned with.

I saw a woman at her wits end, drenched to the bone, physically tired and uncomfortable, and mentally pained. I admit I have cried in stressful times as well, and I could understand Shield Knight's desires to keep it secret. I realise, looking back, that having a good companion by my side would have made all of my tearful moments far easier to deal with. And here I was, watching this girl break down in front of me, and I wasn't helping her at all.

You know that feeling when your heart swells a little, with a nervous prospect? I had that feeling. I knew that if I was going to be this knight's companion, it would be more than just physically aiding her in battle. Us knights have to be there for each other emotionally as well. Surely, this was the whole point of this new pairing system?

I slowly shifted and stood up to my feet, the rain pattering against my armour. Shield Knight yelped suddenly as she saw me move.

"Sh-Shovel Knight!" she stammered, quickly wiping her reddened eyes and trying to remain natural. I didn't say anything in return, and after a few seconds. Shield Knight realised I had seen her weeping. Her head sunk in shame and she couldn't bear to look at me. That hurt me. I reached down for my shovel and slowly walked to her, holding my shovel limply in my hand. I stood still for awhile and looked at the defeated Shield Knight. Her raised arm was quivering slightly from holding up the heavy weight of the shield.

I grabbed the top rim of the shield and lifted it slightly. Shield Knight looked up at me, her face wet from tears and rain. Hers was a look of confusion, as if she didn't know what I was trying to do. I felt no need to speak words. My gesture would make things very clear. With my shovel hand, it thrust the shovel into the ground at an incline, digging it deeply and firmly into the wet soil. Then, with careful hands, I positioned the handle of the shovel just correctly so the shield would lean against it. After some gentle noodling with the shovel and shield, I let go of both and stood back, tense that the whole thing would collapse on top of her.

The shovel held up the shield well, and for a few seconds nothing changed. A few seconds seems to be enough, and as soon as Shield Knight let her freed arm drop, we both watched as the makeshift structure held itself.

Without another word, I grabbed Shield Knight's warm lantern and small shield, and dragged it underneath the new shelter, before sitting down myself. The ground was still soggy, and both Shield Knight and I could barely fit under the shelter…but it worked. The rain no longer pattered against my armour, and Shield Knight's arms were both freed.

She continued to look at me, still confused, but calmer. I looked at her briefly, but unfortunately I had such little energy to do much that I gently (and promptly) slumped against the floor and started to fall asleep. The rain still hit my feet, but the lantern provided a very welcome warmth. My eyes glazed over and closed and I begun to drift away. It felt amazing. But what I felt next was the moment when I knew things were changing between us.

I felt Shield Knight shuffling up behind me, matching my posture on the floor. Usually I was not used to people cuddling up against me so closely, however I understood the shelter had little space to ward away the rain, so I ignored whatever romantic sentiments that may have accompanied Shield Knight's 'spooning' of me, as it were. Despite it…I enjoyed how close we were that night. We slept like children, and for the first time in my active service (and probably her first time as well), we woke up far later than we intended to. And the gentle feeling of her armour pressing against mine gave me a sense of security and comfort that I seldom had when I travelled alone. For the first time, it truly felt as if we were looking out for each other, keeping each other warm and safe.

We were finally being true companions to each other. And dare I say...a seed was planted that night. Our beautiful little tree of love would one day sprout and grow to what it is today.

Our mission was a success and we safely rescued the knights whom the Orders were concerned with. But the mission didn't matter to me at that point. Ever since we shared that night under her shield, things between us changed. Shield Knight started to smile a lot more, a sight that was more than welcome after so much scowling in the past. Our daytime conversations were less concerned with arguments and gamesmanship, and the pleasantness of our campfire conversations rose exponentially. The pairing was deemed a success by our Orders and we were sent on more missions together. And yes, when it rained, we spooned under her big shield (I must say I am getting more fond of that word). Although neither of us at the time wanted to acknowledge it ('sorry, but this is just business' she always said prior to our sleep), those rainy nights fast became a guilty pleasure.

We became fast friends and great companions, and today, we are even more. I am Shield Knight's beloved, and she is mine. Sometimes, all it takes is to see another side of a person before you can truly begin to appreciate a person. Personally, I will always remember that first rainy night as the pivotal moment when our companionship changed. Like I said, I was always close to Mother Nature; maybe the rain she brought was her way of saying 'thanks'.

Wait a second; you want to know about our first kiss?

Well, that's another story entirely!

Well, hope you enjoyed it! I recently bought Shovel Knight for my 3DS and thoroughly enjoyed the game, I feel that there is so much potential for fleshing out the backstories of the characters and it's great fun to write! I also wrote Catch Her, my first Shovel Knight fanfic, and this one that you've just read sort of works as a prequel to that. I intend to write maybe one or two more fics to turn all my Shovel Knight fanfics into a story arc of some kind, so watch this space! Don't forget to check out my other stuff and have a nice day!